El Paso Independent School District Board President Isela Castañon-Williams was reluctant Tuesday to take responsibility for a mushrooming test-fixing scandal at Bowie High.

Castañon-Williams said she knew little of the affair while it was occurring.

Castañon-Williams, who has been delegated to speak for the board, also said she had confidence in Interim Superintendent Terri Jordan -- even though Jordan was the district's chief of staff when much of the alleged wrongdoing occurred.

"I feel the responsibility to fix the problem," Castañon-Williams said Tuesday at the end of a news conference at which Jordan gave new details of the scandal within hours of the El Paso Times getting new documents relating to it. "I cannot help what happened in the past."

Castañon-Williams wouldn't give a straight answer when asked whether she was responsible for problems in the school district.

"These problems occurred in 2008, and I was elected to the board in late 2009 and was not aware of the problems," she said.

The district appears to have used several schemes to keep some kids -- especially native Spanish speakers -- away from government-mandated tests for 10th-graders. Schools are rewarded or punished based on the results of those tests.

Castañon-Williams said she and others on the board didn't know of the charges of wrongdoing, even though the district conducted an internal audit looking into the claims. Castañon-Williams said recently that the board had requested the audit.

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The school district had fought not to release the audit, but it was obtained by the El Paso Times under the Texas Open Records Act.

"What happened at Bowie (High School) in 2007 was clear -- 214 of the freshmen of 2007 (mostly from the bottom half of the class) were transferred, deported, sent to charter schools or held back in order to avoid sanctions, publicity and enforcement actions under the No Child Left Behind Law," the letter said.

Even as Castañon-Williams denied knowing about the allegations, she said she and the district want to be open.

"We are committed to transparency and building trust in the community," she said.

Jordan also used the word "transparency" several times in her comments. But she wouldn't answer directly when asked twice whether she knew of possible criminality when she was the EPISD's chief of staff, and if she did, whether she reported it to law enforcement.

Castañon-Williams was asked whether the board had confidence in Jordan. The board president hesitated and then said yes.

"She has demonstrated to us that she's moving in the right direction," Castañon-Williams said.

The board has a policy of delegating Castañon-Williams to make all public statements on its behalf and and discouraging other members -- all elected officials -- from speaking on their own.

No other board members could be reached Tuesday for comment except Alfredo Borrego, who joined the board in 2010.

"This is a disaster," he said after the news conference, referring to the growing scandal. "We will get it right."

Borrego said he also supported Jordan, but that could change "depending on what this investigation reveals."